Notes

Historical Background

Tartaruga Gigante is both Italian and Portugese for "giant turtle". It is the term used in Portugese to refer to what is called in English the Giant Galapagos Tortoise. The Giant Galapagos Tortoise (Geochelone nigra) is the largest extant tortoise. It is herbivorous and moves very slowly. They are endemic only to the Galapagos Islands in the eastern Pacific, off the coast of South America. The turtles used to be all over the islands, numbering 250,000, but pirates and whalers slaughtered most of them for meat in the 19th century, leading to a population of only 15,000 alive today. They can live 100-150 years. The features on their shells helped Charles Darwin, who visited the Galapagos in September-October 1835, figure out the concept of evolution since each island (an isolated population) had distinct features. It should be noted, the Galapagos finches (popularly known as Darwin's Finches), also helped Darwin deduce evolution and natural selection.